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Myanmar police opened fire on Sunday (February 28) on protests against the military regime, with at least six dead and several injured on the second day of crackdown on demonstrations across the country.
Rescuers told AFP that three men were shot and killed in the southern city of Dawei, while two other teenagers were killed in the city of Bago.
A sixth person died in Yangon, a lawmaker from the ousted Myanmar civilian government said in a Facebook post.
Myanmar has been in chaos since the army seized power and detained elected government leader Aung San Suu Kyi and many of her party leaders on February 1, citing fraud in the November elections that her party won overwhelmingly.
The coup, which halted tentative steps toward democracy after nearly 50 years of military rule, has drawn hundreds of thousands to the streets and to the condemnation of Western countries.
In this video image, anti-coup protesters react as smoke from tear gas rises in Yangon, Myanmar, on Sunday, February 28, 2021. (AP Phoro)
“Myanmar is like a battlefield,” the Buddhist-majority country’s first Catholic cardinal, Charles Maung Bo, said on Twitter.
Police left early and opened fire in different parts of the larger city of Yangon after stun grenades, tear gas and shots into the air failed to dissolve the crowd. The soldiers also reinforced the police, Reuters reported.
Several injured people were carried away by other protesters, leaving blood stains on the sidewalks, media images showed. A man died after being taken to a hospital with a bullet in the chest, said a doctor who asked not to be identified.
A woman died of a suspected heart attack after police rushed to break up a teacher protest in Yangon with stun grenades, her daughter and a colleague said.
Police also opened fire in Dawei in the south, killing three and wounding several, politician Kyaw Min Htike told Reuters from the city.
Myanmar Now news outlet said two people were killed in a protest in the second city of Mandalay, Reuters reported.
READ: Myanmar’s ambassador to the UN vows to continue fighting after the junta fires him
In this video image, anti-coup protesters react as smoke from tear gas rises in Yangon, Myanmar, on Sunday, February 28, 2021. (AP Phoro)
Police and a spokesman for the ruling military council did not respond to phone calls seeking comment.
Police broke up protests in other cities, including Lashio in the northeast and Myeik in the deep south, residents and media said.
Medical students show images of deposed Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a street march in Yangon, Myanmar, on Sunday, Feb.28, 2021. (Photo: AP)
Students march during a demonstration against the coup in Yangon, Myanmar, on Sunday, February 28, 2021. (Photo: AP)
“NEVER KNEEL”
The leader of the board, General Min Aung Hlaing, said last week that the authorities were using minimal force to deal with the protests.
However, at least 10 protesters have died in the unrest, Reuters reported. The army said a policeman was killed.
The repression would seem to indicate the determination of the military to impose its authority in the face of widespread defiance, not only in the streets, but more broadly in the civil service, municipal administration, the judiciary, the education and health sectors and the media. communication.
“The clear escalation by the Myanmar security forces in the use of lethal force in various towns and cities … is outrageous and unacceptable,” said Phil Robertson, New York-based Human Rights Watch deputy director for Asia, it’s a statement.
Hundreds of protesters refused to leave the streets in the early afternoon in Yangon. Many erected barricades while others chanted slogans and sang songs of protest.
“If they attack us, we will defend ourselves. We will never kneel before military boots,” Nyan Win Shein said at a protest in Yangon.
Earlier in the day, the police rushed in to disperse a protest of teachers with stun grenades, causing the crowd to flee. One teacher, Tin New Yee, died of a suspected heart attack, her daughter and a fellow teacher said.
Police also threw stun grenades in front of a Yangon medical school, causing doctors and students in white lab coats to scatter. A group of doctors called the Whitecoat Alliance said that more than 50 members of the medical staff had been arrested.
State television MRTV said more than 470 people had been arrested Saturday when police launched the nationwide crackdown. It was unclear how many were detained on Sunday.
“INSTITUTE FEAR”
Youth activist Esther Ze Naw previously said that people were struggling to overcome the fear they had lived with for so long.
“This fear will only grow if we continue to live with it and the people who are creating the fear know it. It is obvious that they are trying to instill fear in us by making us run and hide,” he said. “We cannot accept that.”
The police action came after state television announced that Myanmar’s UN envoy had been fired for betraying the country after he urged the UN to use “whatever means necessary” to reverse the coup.
MRTV said he had been fired according to civil service rules because he had “betrayed the country” and “abused the power and responsibilities of an ambassador.”
The ambassador, Kyaw Moe Tun, was defiant. “I decided to fight back as much as I can,” he told Reuters in New York.
UN Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews said he was overwhelmed by the ambassador’s “act of courage”, adding on Twitter: “It is time for the world to respond to that courageous call with action.”
Myanmar generals have traditionally ignored diplomatic pressure. They promised to hold new elections, but did not set a date.
The party and Aung San Suu Kyi’s supporters said the result of the November vote must be respected.
Aung San Suu Kyi, 75, spent nearly 15 years under house arrest during the military government. She faces charges of illegally importing six walkie-talkie radios and violating a natural disaster law by violating coronavirus protocols.
The next hearing in your case is scheduled for Monday.
